For anyone not yet familiar with Google Street View, the service gives online viewers an almost eye-level view of the streets and roads of most of the cities of the world. Since its inception almost five years ago, Street View has allowed users to virtually roam the streets of other countries from the comfort of their homes. In his Unfortunate Events series, Wolf uses these Street View captures but selects only those images that are less than photogenic, to put it lightly.

To those who didn't quite agree that Wolf's entry was in line with the WPP's standards for photography, Wolf defended his work, explaining that with the influx of digital images today, it's about time that someone "curate them or incorporate them into our work."

In addition, good photojournalism is supposed to provoke relevant discussion on the subject matter. In this case, issues on privacy, art, and even photojournalism itself are again being questioned. Still, many argue that the World Press Photo Award was a bit much for a collection of images taken with a camera mounted on a tripod and aimed at the computer screen, as Wolf did to capture these stills.

Whether or not you agree with the photographer's rationalization, the Google Street View images themselves are quite amusing. Michael Wolf's website is here. Some more images from his Series of Unfortunate Events are also on his website. Be sure to check out Wolf's other award-winning projects here and here.

Wow, this is kinda surreal and I didn't like looking at some of them. BUT I agree with Wolf that this should be considered photography and I think if people were more aware and maybe scared of the big brother mentality of google street view maybe there would be more accountability and less muggings and public urination. ;) ewwNice post-Dale